1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for monitoring. In particular, the present invention relates to registration of a notification destination at an event occurrence into an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a monitoring system for collecting status information of an image forming apparatus connected to a network, such as failure information indicating a failure or abnormality such as a paper jam, and remaining amount information indicating, for example, a change in the remaining amount of consumables.
The monitoring system includes a monitoring apparatus connected to a network at a customer's office where the image forming apparatus is installed, and a management server remotely providing a central control of the image forming apparatus and the monitoring apparatus. The monitoring apparatus collects, for example, the status information from the image forming apparatus, and then notifies the management server of the collected information.
The above-mentioned status information includes event data indicating an occurrence of an event required to be maintained by, mainly maintenance staff of the image forming apparatus. This event data should be notified to the management server immediately after the event occurrence, to minimize the downtime (out-of-service time) of the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, the monitoring apparatus registers, for example, the network address (notification destination address) of the monitoring apparatus and the notification condition(s) into the image forming apparatus, and makes the image forming apparatus notify the monitoring apparatus of event data at the time of an occurrence of an event so that the monitoring apparatus can immediately recognize the occurrence of the event that is required to be maintained. Here, examples of the notification condition include a condition such that, when the image forming apparatus enters in a specific status, this status change should be notified.
However, relying solely on unilateral notification from the image forming apparatus as a means for conveying the status information of the image forming apparatus may result in undermining of the integrity of the information that the monitoring apparatus should keep monitoring, since the image forming apparatus may fail to notify the monitoring apparatus sometimes due to the communication status when the image forming apparatus tries to communicate, or some abnormality. Therefore, it is required that the monitoring apparatus periodically performs the processing of acquiring the status information from the image forming apparatus (polling processing).
On the other hand, for example, the above-mentioned registration information for a notification (address information of the notification destination and notification condition(s)) which is registered in the image forming apparatus may be lost due to, for example, power-off of the image forming apparatus. In association with a loss of the registration information, “Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-282471” discusses the following invention. That is, a printing apparatus is configured to delete address information of a host computer for a status notification which is registered in the printing apparatus but has been unused for a while, and the printing apparatus notifies the host computer of this deletion. The host computer re-registers the address only when it receives such a notification.
However, in “Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-282471”, the printing apparatus distinguishes an address that has been unused for a while, and sends a notification when the printing apparatus deletes this address. Therefore, any measure is not taken against a loss of a notification destination due to power-off or overwriting of other information thereon. Further, in the conventional art, communication should be performed only for the purpose of a notification of deletion of an address, besides a notification of the status of the printing apparatus. In this way, this conventional art leaves much to be improved.